Impacted by the agricultural crisis, the lives of farmers across Europe had become increasingly difficult. Those families with savings were doing alright, while those without savings could only resort to taking on debt.
Food was grown by themselves, so the expense of living wasn't great, the largest expenditure being government taxes. In most regions, agricultural taxes were not heavy, so with some effort, families could manage to scrape together the necessary funds, and if they truly didn't have the money, they could owe it.
Some countries even reduced or accepted in-kind payments for taxes. Bankrupted farmers were in the minority; the majority of people could still manage to get by.
If the agricultural crisis had ended in 1873, then it would merely have been a minor episode akin to the price drop due to a bumper harvest year, insufficient to shake the foundation of Europe's small-scale farming economy.
